The Nonsense of Love
by half-sleeping
Summary: Akashi 3 Momoi. Written originally for Misdirection 2016.


"Ugh, finally," said Aomine, shaking out his shoulders as though trying to shake the blanket of camaraderie off his skin. "Why'd we even do that, anyway? We don't have to keep him just because Tetsu does."

"We kept Kise," said Akashi.

Aomine jerked in surprise to find Akashi walking calmly beside him. His mouth twisted into a scowl that was unimpeded by plenty of good food in passable company. "He followed _me_ ," Aomine said.

"Nevertheless," said Akashi, calmly. He was looking ahead at Kuroko walking the dog Nigou on a leash with Momoi at his side, talking softly to either the girl or the dog. Momoi beamed happily at both Tetsuyas impartially, full of cheer at having so adroitly gotten Kuroko's birthday celebrated.

Aomine looked up at the two of them and the dog. He looked at Akashi, carefully sideways, not down. Back at Kuroko and Momoi.

The noise of Takao Kazunari dying a slow death with both Midorima and Murasakibara crammed in the wagon-back filled the silence between them.

"So, finally?" said Aomine, keeping his eyes trained straight ahead and tensing his muscles in case he needed to make a quick escape.

Akashi's gaze was distant, resting on the halo of light thrown off by Momoi's pink hair. She turned around to look at them, and her face lit with laughter at whatever was going on behind them. She caught Akashi's eye and smiled at him, still laughing.

"Yes," he said, smiling back. "Finally."

"A practice match?" said Momoi, looking up at the Touou Coach Harasawa.

He nodded, stroking his chin. "It's a very prestigious rematch," he said. "And we'll have a small training camp after, to make the most of this chance."

"I see," said Momoi, rapidly re-filing her mental calendar of upcoming events.

"He'll be contacting you to make the arrangements," Harasawa informed her, and drifted off.

"Who will be contacting me," said Momoi, into the silence of the Coach's absence, but she knew that it would be faster just to wait for warm-ups to finish and ask Wakamatsu. She shuffled the files of incoming students until they lay in straight piles and she checked on the progress of the honey lemons she was keeping in Sakurai's locker. These ones were sure to be better. She'd cut them all the way in half.

Then her phone buzzed.

Momoi answered it promptly. "Hello?" she said.

"Momoi," said Akashi. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she said. "Akashi-kun, how are you doing? Are you the one we're having the practice match with?"

"I'm also doing well," said Akashi. "Yes, we are."

"Shouldn't your managers be handling this?" said Momoi. "Unless- oh, no, Higuchi-san is taking his entrance exams, isn't he? What about… um, Takeda-san, or-" Akashi cut her off before she could run through the whole list of Rakuzan's substitute or potential managers.

"We're still trying them out," said Akashi dryly. "I thought that I would handle this one in person, since it was my idea and we already know each other."

Momoi giggled.

"Did you want to have a match with Dai-chan after you had one with Mukkun?" she said. "That's so sweet."

"Yes," said Akashi, straight-faced. The day after Kuroko's birthday party, Rakuzan and Yousen had had a practice match. Himuro had immortalised Murasakibara's post-game tantrum of lying on the court face-down and refusing to get up to shake hands and the picture had ended up in the hands of Kagami, Kuroko, most of Seirin and every one of the Miragen. Kuroko was probably going to get it framed.

"Who do you think you'll be bringing?" asked Momoi, voice sweet. "You'll want to give some of the upcoming third-years who haven't been on the first-string before game experience, but Touou is a tough opponent, you know. You'll need to have your best players starting the game or you might fall back too quickly to catch up."

Akashi experienced a delicious thrill at the sound of her ruthless calculation. "I wouldn't want to make things too easy for you," he teased her.

"Too easy would be boring, Akashi-kun," Momoi purred. "It wouldn't be _fun_."

"I'm absolutely certain that this will be fun," said Akashi.

"So what dates do you think-" Momoi said, then she cut off, Akashi surmised, when the door opened.

"Why are you smiling like that?" he heard Aomine say distantly on Momoi's side. "It's creepy."

"We're going to have a practice match with Akashi-kun!" squealed Momoi happily.

"Oh, fuck," Aomine said, his voice laden with disgust and yes, fear.

Akashi heard a thud.

"Ryou-kun?" said Momoi. "Akashi-kun, I have to go, you can mail me the arrangements! _Ryou-kun_ -"

"Ugh, he's drooling on my shoes-"

Akashi terminated the call of his own volition. He did already have his plans in place, but he would wait to call her, instead.

He preferred to hear her voice.

The game was going well. Someone had had to drag Sakurai Ryou off the court for half time after the second quarter, but from the bored expression on Aomine's face, this was just business as usual.

Akashi wiped the sweat off his face. His team was playing well… and Aomine, licking himself back into form, hadn't pulled out the zone yet. Akashi was prepared to enjoy himself when it did. Probably it was hazardous to the Uncrowned and Rakuzan's new starters to let Touou's team get so much experience of them, but Akashi had wanted to make them go all-out against Aomine, as well. Akashi wanted to learn how to play with them, not around them. Some things could only be experienced on the…

"Akashi-kun?" said Momoi.

Slowly, he returned to earth. He inclined his head towards her. She held out a large tupperware full of honey and lemons.

Her melting gaze tipped upwards towards his face. "I cut them into quarters," said Momoi. "Since you don't have an official manager right now, I thought..." She rubbed one foot against her calf. "I thought… if you don't like them, you don't have to take them…"

"That's very kind of you," said Akashi. For a moment he'd been thirteen again, and the world had been at their feet. "Of course we'll take them. It's very nostalgic. Thank you so much for doing this for us."

Momoi smiled at him. "Okay!" she said. She darted a glance at the scoreboard, which showed Rakuzan leading by eleven points. "Um… good luck, but we're not done yet!"

"No," said Akashi. Now, Momoi had seen enough to send Touou's players after their weak spots. "We won't take it easy." He took the lemons back to his team.

"Are they poisoned?" said Nebuya. He peered into the box. "They're- hey, they're barely cut at all! They're just-" Akashi swiftly kicked him in the ankle and Nebuya went down with a yelp of pain.

"Oh no how accidental," said Akashi, waving reassuringly to Momoi. He looked down at Nebuya, who had no trouble reading his expression.

"Did she… mean to give them to you like that?" whispered Mibuchi. He paid no attention to Nebuya. A gorilla like that deserved whatever he got.

Akashi examined the lemons. No spots of dirt. The cut edges were clean and sharp. The honey had actually managed to thin a little this time, responding to the lemon juice. "Actually, this is a great improvement for her cooking," he said. "I'm genuinely impressed."

" _Sei-chan_ ," wailed Mibuchi. It was a heartrending cry, delivered at a subdued volume.

"We could… help," said Hayama.

"If you like," said Akashi, in tones of no great enthusiasm. "Everyone may have one quarter." He looked down. "Except you."

Nebuya stared up at him. "I still have to play the next half, don't I," he said.

"Yes," said Akashi. Leading by example, he put one quarter piece into his mouth and chewed. As his horrified teammates watched in awe, as Aomine and Touou ate decorously of Sakurai's perfectly crystallized slices, as Momoi clasped her hands together in joy and shone upon him, Akashi ate it, skin and all.

The itinerary for the training camp commenced almost immediately with a forty-five minute viewing and short lecture that turned into a two-hour match breakdown. Coach Harasawa and Coach Shirogane let the team captains take the lead in the discussion, so Wakamatsu gave up instantly and waved Momoi forward to take over.

"Is this allowed?" Sakurai whispered to Aomine.

"Akashi loves the sound of his voice a lot," explained Aomine. He eyed Akashi and Momoi standing at the head of the room, exchanging the laser pointer between them for the match video on the projector screen, then put his head down on his arms and fell asleep.

"Dai-chan didn't listen to any of it at _all_ ," said Momoi, straightening up the lecture room after the lecture. "Really, even if he was tired from the Zone, that's too much!"

"Yes," said Akashi. He had already cleared with Captain Wakamatsu what Aomine's training menu would be for tomorrow. "You had some valuable insights."

Momoi, already pink with indignation, went darker with pleasure. "Thank you, Akashi-kun," she said. "We'll be doing a lot with your notes, too."

"Of course,' said Akashi. He looked forward to it. "Reo quite ardently dislikes your Sakurai," he remarked. Though possibly the near-audible hisses the shooting guard emitted whenever Reo was in his line of sight were also responsible.

"Sakurai-kun is like that," said Momoi. She sat down next to Akashi to work at the laptop with him, making printouts. "He's very competitive."

Akashi Seijuurou, 'Akashi Seijuurou', looked at her sideways.

"Oh, he is," Momoi assured him. "Even with Dai-chan. Even more with Dai-chan, actually. They've gotten along much better since Dai-chan returned to practice."

"Really," said Akashi.

"I have my ways," said Momoi primly. She dimpled a lovely little smile at him, fingers flashing as she typed up the notes from their meeting to give to the coaches. Akashi watched her doing it, interjecting at times with a remembered comment.

When she was finished, she read it back to herself, lips moving silently. Akashi looked at her, and put his head down on her shoulder.

"A-Akashi-kun!" said Momoi.

"I'm also tired," said Akashi comfortably. "Aomine may have had the right idea."

"Oh," said Momoi. "T-the z-zone? That's r-right, you went into it. You must be t-tired!"

"There doesn't seem to be anything missing from the write-up," said Akashi. He sat back up. "I'll take it to them if you know where they are."

"Drinking," said Momoi automatically. "They haven't had the chance to catch up in a while."

"What mature, responsible children we are," said Akashi. He tried to remember what everyone would be doing- they'd been forbidden from extra training today, to rest from the match.

"They know the captains are in charge," said Momoi. She was looking at him with worried eyes, trying to figure out why he had laid his head on her.

"Shall we walk a little?" said Akashi. "We've been working all day." He smiled. "We could get ice cream."

They made it almost to the parking lot before they remembered that they had left their wallets in their bags, and even Momoi turning out all the pockets of her ever-present hoodie failed to produce enough coins for the both of them.

"Darn," said Momoi. "Akashi-kun, I'll treat you!"

"No, you eat it," said Akashi.

Momoi stared at him with determination. "I'll treat you," she said.

"We'll share," said Akashi, capitulating. "Please consider _my_ feelings, Momoi."

Momoi giggled so much at the thought of Akashi having feelings that she didn't protest as they picked out the cheapest one they could find and stepped outside to eat it.

"You choose a side," he said.

Akashi saw the exact moment that Momoi realised that they would have to eat over each other's mouth prints, and carefully kept his gaze innocent and inquiring. She bit a small neat circle, tucked her hair behind her ear, then quickly passed it over to him.

Akashi savoured the sight of her, cheeks pink, eyes shining, lips wet and red. He bit into his side of the ice cream.

"This is nice," said Momoi, her voice quavering. "Do you-" she said. "Do you remember, when we were-"

"I remember," said Akashi. The start of days of irreplaceable sweetness, the time that even now he treasured above so much else.

Before he'd succumbed to weakness.

Momoi sucked on her side to sweeten the expression on her face. "You were always so busy, and we stayed late-"

And even when Momoi had been finished with her work and sent off, free to catch up with the rest of their friends, sometimes she would return, panting and with her hair disarrayed, brandishing ice creams for him and her in a sweating plastic bag. They would eat them standing outside the school block, obeying the letter of the school laws and enjoying the glimmer of stars. Whenever he had managed to get away with them, travelling in a casual pack to loiter in a convenience store carpark, Momoi had attended him like a worried hen, hovering and watchful and happy.

After a while, he had realised that such a small, simple thing made him happy too. And that was why Momoi had done it, in tune with, looking out for, so carefully devoted to, the part of himself he hadn't yet known.

And all the while she'd been in love with Kuroko, Akashi reflected. He didn't dispute that Kuroko had many sterling qualities worth admiring. It just had been rather humbling to watch it happen.

"You know, the other managers were jealous of me," she said. "Because I got to spend so much time with you!" Momoi laughed to herself, because that had obviously been so ridiculous.

Since this was exactly the kind of situation Akashi had noticed brewing and taken steps to mitigate, he made a noncommittal social noise that he had mastered at the age of two.

"There was nothing wrong with you, of course!" Momoi said, rousing herself from her giggles.

Akashi winced.

Momoi blushed, prettily. "I didn't mean it like that," she said. "I just- they didn't know you at all, but they imagined that something was happening because they kept saying that you were their prince."

"And I didn't seem like a prince to you, Momoi?" he said. He raised his eyebrows at her.

Momoi laughed. "You _are_ very nice," she said, in the tones of one who has the data to prove it. "But you were more than that, Akashi-kun. You were-" her voice checked. "You were more than that."

Akashi looked at her and smiled, his eyelids coming down to disguise the bright hungry light in his eyes. "High praise," he teased her.

She made an apologetic face at him. More, more than a shining sad prince, more than a reliable fairytale machine, she had always treated him like her friend.

His teeth scraped on wood and he passed it back to her.

"All gone," she said, sucking the meltwater off the stick.

"Delicious," said Akashi.

"We'll do this _properly_ tomorrow," said Momoi. "Before you go back!"

"Of course," said Akashi. The wind blew, and Akashi sneezed.

Momoi stripped off her jacket in a moment. "Akashi-kun!" she said, holding it out to him.

"Momoi," said Akashi. He was in two layers, with a t-shirt over his jersey. He wasn't even wearing shorts.

"Put it on," she said. "I should have thought about how much colder it is here than in Kyoto!"

"We're almost back at the-" protested Akashi.

Her mouth held firm. "Akashi-kun, here!" She threw her jacket around him, gathering it over his shoulders as best she could. She glared up into his face, holding him firmly in place. "What would I do if I made you sick?"

"Take care of me?" Akashi tried, before remembering that once Momoi had made rice porridge for a training camp and they'd eventually used it to seal cracks in pavement.

Momoi blushed, again. "Akashi-kun, of course I would take care of you," she assured him, looking up into his face, biting her lip, sweetly and sincerely.

He leaned forward, just that little bit, and kissed her.

Momoi rocked back a step, letting go of her jacket. "Akashi-kun," she said. Her eyes stared at him.

Akashi froze. "I-" he stammered. "I, Momoi, I'm so-"

Momoi took off, running into Touou's school grounds.

Akashi grabbed at her jacket, spilling off his shoulders. He walked after her- he shouldn't run, he shouldn't chase her, she mustn't be made to feel trapped- then he saw the gym.

The gym, which was lit up.

And occupied.

Akashi burst through the door.

"Akashi!" said someone from Rakuzan Akashi couldn't be bothered looking at right now. He looked frantically around for Momoi.

"She's in the storage room," said Aomine. "Why've you got on her jacket?"

"You're playing out of bounds," said Akashi. His own voice sounded strange to him, echoing off the ceiling. He looked around the court at Nebuya, Sakurai, Kotarou. "All of you."

"Fine, we'll lock up and go," Aomine said. "Storage room."

"Fine," said Akashi, striding past the rest of the frozen forms.

"Momoi," he said, sliding the door half-closed to give them some privacy.

She gasped and turned around. "Dai-chan told!" she said.

"I'm sorry," said Akashi. "I- I most sincerely apologize for my action, I didn't mean to-"

"Oh!" said Momoi, and her face scrunched up. "Oh, Akashi-kun…"

"Did you-" said Akashi. "Did you… mind?"

"Mind?" said Momoi.

"Did you like it?" said Akashi. "You ran away."

"I did like it!" she said. "Akashi-kun, I did- I just got scared, and I-"

"Of me?" said Akashi, reaching out to hold one of her hands.

"No," said Momoi. "No, I just- you looked so upset."

"I thought you were upset," said Akashi. "I would never want to-" he said. "I would very much dislike," he said, "if you were to show consideration for me, over yourself."

"I didn't understand that," said Momoi.

"Please don't feel… obligated," said Akashi. "I kissed you… because I was carried away."

"By what?" said Momoi.

"How beautiful you are," said Akashi.

"Oh, Akashi-kun," said Momoi, looking up at him with melting eyes. She stepped closer to him and "You are very nice," she told him.

"So are you," he said. "I mean, you're more than nice, you're…"

"Akashi-kun," said Momoi, merciful. "Would you like to kiss me again?"

"He's… actually locked us in," said Momoi, after trying the door didn't work. "Ohh, Dai-chan." She shook her head sadly.

Akashi silently made a note to do something nice for Aomine.

"This really might get cold," said Akashi, shamelessly. He reached out with one of the sleeves of Momoi's jacket. "I think you should take care of me."

 **Omake**

"We're not _really_ locking them in, right?" said Nebuya.

"Yup," said Aomine.

"What will the coaches say?" said Sakurai.

"His problem," said Aomine.

"Should you really-" said Koutarou.

"Look," said Aomine. "Unless you want to be dragged down to Tokyo every other week for the rest of your high school basketball careers, let's just lock them in and go get some sleep. We've got a match on tomorrow."


End file.
